Ice skating has long been a popular winter season pastime and sport, in all of its forms, including figure skating, speed skating and ice hockey. The familiar ice skates gradually evolved into roller skates, which then enabled the user to skate (more correctly, enabled the user to roll ) without ice. Roller skates are now generally characterized by having construction that includes an ankle-height boot of resilient polymeric material having some interior padding, with the boot being fixably mounted upon a chassis that has front and rear axles each bearing a pair of wheels of relatively soft resilient elastomer.
Roller skates in turn evolved into in-line skates. In-line skates, like roller skates, are generally characterized by an ankle-height boot of resilient polymeric material having interior padding, with the boot being fixably mounted upon a chassis. However, an in-line skate chassis has two, three or, most commonly, four axle-mounted wheels. The wheels are mounted in a line with respect to one another, so that the weight of the user is distributed in-line in much the stone fashion as on an ice-skate. Overall, an in-line skate can have dimensions similar to those of a skiing boot of the same user's foot size. Thus, it can be seen that in-line skates are relatively bulky items of sporting equipment.
A branch of in-line skating is the rapidly growing sport of in-line hockey. In-line hockey can be viewed as another variant of the sport of ice hockey, along with street hockey or gymnasium hockey. Street hockey and gymnasium hockey, which are played by players wearing sneakers, form a natural point from which a player can make the transition into in-line hockey, in which the player wears in-line skates. In order to get to practice sites or game sites, the players, many of whom will be youngsters, would greatly benefit from a way of being able to more efficiently haul their in-line skates around. The various paraphernalia involved, such as gloves, helmets, pads, and so forth will generally take up most of the space in a backpack or rucksack. Thus, an alternate way of carrying the player's in-line skates by bicycle to the site of play would be desireable. The prior art discloses no method of specifically carrying boots in a secure fashion on a bicycle, much less skates or in-line skates.
Rear carriers have long been known to be useful accessories for bicycles, freeing up the rider's hands for safe and efficient operation of the handlebars and the brake and speed change levers, while carrying a load in a convenient location behind the seat. Such carriers have been known to be useful for the transport of books, clothes, briefcases, food and tools. Virtually every type of non-basket rear carrier that has ever been designed has included the structural element of having a horizontal load-bearing platform or wire framework, making this a nearly universal feature of bicycle rear carriers.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for safely and effectively carrying in-line skates on a bicycle, to be used in combination with any type of bicycle rear carrier that can provide a horizontal load bearing rack or frame. It is another object of the present invention to provide bicycle carriers that are used with certain of the embodiments of the invention that can be not only of the type having a horizontal carrying rack, but also having vertical or sloped carrying racks. Although it is preferred that in-line skates be carried in an upright position, the modules can be so configured as to carry the skates in a vertical position, (toe pointed upward) a sloped position, or even up-side down, which of course would prevent moisture from getting into the inside of the skate's boot. Likewise, although it is preferred that the skates be carried in a plane parallel to the plane of the bicycle's wheels, they could be carried in a plane perpendicular or at a slope to the plane of the wheels. It is an another object of the present invention to provide a device for safely and effectively carrying in-line skates on a bicycle and simultaneously protecting the in-line skates from dust, dirt, water and so forth. Another object of the present invention is to provide for a means of carrying in-line skates that can be readily mounted and de-mounted on and off a bicycle rear carrier. It is yet another object of the present invention to provide for a combination of an in-line skate carrying device along with a rear carrier, wherein the in-line skate carrying means can be de-mounted from the rear carrier to permit other uses of the rear carrier. Another object of the invention is to provide for a means of carrying in-line skates in a fashion that properly balances the load so as to permit the safest operation of the bicycle. There is also as an object of the invention the goal of being able to transport other types of footwear in addition to that of in-line skates, including, but not limited to, roller skates, hiking boots, gym shoes, other types of athletic and sports footwear, dress shoes and other casual shoes. An alternative embodiment of the invention has the additional object of being capable of being mounted over the rear or front wheel of a bicycle, and not relying on a bicycle rack, but rather having all necessary hardware for being directly mounted on the bicycle frame. Another object of the invention is to provide for an apparatus that permits a user to carry in-line skates by hand by means of a convenient single carrier that can be disengaged from a bicycle carrying rack. An alternate embodiment of the invention is suitable for carrying any kind of sport, dress or working footwear in the saddlebag-like enclosures. The holder is simply molded along a somewhat different contour, eliminating the need for inwardly concave surfaces to grip the sidelong outline of an in-line skate. By varying the molding of the sidewall contour accordingly, conventional roller skates can be carried, as well as ski boots, hiking boots, ice skates, riding boots, shoes and the like.
The present invention accomplishes these objects by featuring a molded pannier-like module that can be mounted upon a horizontal load-bearing rack or frame of a bicycle's rear carrier, stradling the rack so that two opposed skate carriers rest astride each side of a bicycle's rear wheel. The module can alternatively be mounted over a bicycle's front wheel. In-line skates conveniently fit into each side carrier, which each additionally features a central longitudinal channel running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the carrier, into which the wheel array of the in-line skate rests. Another feature of the invention is the ability of each side carrier to resiliently clamp onto the sides of the skate being carried, in order to hold the skate securely in the side carrier during transport. Another feature of the invention is the ability to conveniently mount or demount from any bicycle rear carrier that has a horizontal cargo rack or frame.
An alternate embodiment of the invention features a molded pannier-like module that is supported by struts and clamps that attach directly onto a bicycle frame. Like the embodiment that attaches onto a bicycle frame, this embodiment features a module stradling the bicycle's wheel so that two opposed skate carriers rest astride each side of a bicycle's rear wheel. In-line skates conveniently fit into each side carrier, which each additionally features a central longitudinal channel running parallel to the longitudinal axis of the carrier, into which the wheel array of the in-line skate rests.